IS MENTAL RETENTION CONTAGIOUS?

Hurriyet
Nov 12 2008
Turkey

Vecdi Gönul is a politician who is considered by many people in this
country as a "statesman" who, particularly over the past six years,
served successfully in the difficult defense minister portfolio. Even
before he became a defense minister in Dec. 2002, he indeed was
enjoying the support and sympathy of the nation as a successful
governor, politician and a man with a very respectable personality…

But, mental retention is apparently a contagious condition. Not only
is Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan suffering from it Ä~^ as the
symptoms of the condition were demonstrated in the premier’s "love
or leave" statement in Van or his attempt to legitimize the lynching
culture when he said in Istanbul that though he would not approve of
it, people may take defensive measures Ä~^ but Defense Minister Gönul
has as well started to show some symptoms of this serious condition.

Minister Gönul was in Brussels on Nov. 10 and attended a commemoration
of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk at the Turkish Embassy there. While one would
expect a former governor, veteran politician and a six-year defense
minister to stay away from making controversial remarks that could
be exploited by enemies of Turkey, Gönul delivered a statement at
the commemoration that was so unfortunate for him.

He, with that statement, provided ammunition to those at home and
abroad who hate Ataturk and the Turkish Republic. The result: The words
of the minister were considered by the Greek media as a confession
by Turkey that atrocities were committed against Greeks, Armenians
and other minorities in the early years of the Turkish RepublicÃ~I

What did the minister say? "If today in the Aegean Greeks continued
to live, if in many parts of Turkey Armenians continued to live, could
Turkey be the same state? Even today, in the struggle continuing in the
southeast, in this nation building, we cannot reject the contributions
of those who consider themselves aggrievedÃ~I particularly those who
consider themselves aggrieved because of their relocation!"

Can these words reflect the policy of the Turkish state, or the view of
the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP? They cannot, because
what the minister has said is a total denial of the official thesis of
the country regarding the Armenian forced relocation, as well as the
understanding behind the population exchange clauses in the Lausanne
Treaty and the way the young republic and Greece implemented that
treatyÃ~I As regards the shameful 1955 Sept. 6-7 events in Istanbul,
however, no one can deny the role of some government agents and thus
the responsibility of the Turkish state in the tragedy.

Yet another manifestation of the ‘love it or leave it’ mentality

What the minister has said will be used by Turkey’s adversaries as a
confession by a Turkish defense minister that this country has had a
policy of systematic ethnic cleansing with the aim and intention of
building an ethnically cohesive nationÃ~I Indeed, what the minister
said could be summarized as a confession that the "love or leave it"
mentality was exercised "systematically" during the early years of
the republic for the sake of "nation building," and as a consequence
of the aim of building a new nation, the Greek, Armenian and Jewish
citizens were being routedÃ~I

Furthermore, he has said that the Armenian forced relocation "was
being usefulÃ~I" However, the population exchange deal under Lausanne
and the forced Armenian relocation are mostly being considered by the
Turkish people as some "racist" manifestations in Turkey becoming a
nation state and as a consequence of losing those colors from the
Turkish society, the end result was not a success at all when the
riches we have lost are taken into consideration. Just think what
great contributions the Armenians, Greeks and other minorities might
have made to today’s Turkey if they were given the chance of staying
on as an integrated part of this society.

1915 events Ä~^ irrespective of whether they are described as a
genocide Ä~^ as Armenians do Ä~^ or as immense suffering of the
Anatolian population of the time, they were the product of a calamitous
mistake of the Union and Progress government which indeed brought the
end of the Ottoman Empire with its totally wrong policies. No one in
today’s Turkey can be held responsible for that shame!

–Boundary_(ID_lhv3dkEvg10OuM6QYzbEpg)–